NEWS & NOTES
MARINE GREEN: CLEAN POWER
FOR YOUR TENDER
We’ve all been there. You’re
exploring in the dinghy when the
motor suddenly quits, having sucked
up some stale fuel, and you spend
the rest of what could have been
a delightful afternoon waiting for
a tow.
For PMM Founding Editor Bill
Parlatore, that experience sparked
an idea. Why not power an
outboard with fuel that’s much
more reliable than ethanol-laced
gasoline—and safer and friendlier
to the environment, to boot?
If you’ve been wondering what
BillP. has been up to for the last year
or so, the answer is Marine Green, a
company he started with friend and
engineer Howard Brooks. Together,
Bill and Howard have built several
prototype outboards powered
exclusively by propane, a fuel many
trawler owners already carry aboard.
“Once we got into this project, it
became clear to me that propane is
an ideal fuel choice for small marine
engines,” Bill says. “The fuel does not
go stale or separate, as does ethanol-
blended gasoline.”
Another big plus: propane
produces significantly fewer toxic
emissions. “Propane is as green as
it gets for internal-combustion
marine engines,” Bill adds. And,
according to the U.S. propane
industry, 97 percent of the propane
used in the U.S. is manufactured right
here in North America.
The first Marine Green prototype
powered a 4hp outboard. “We
hooked it up and ran the dinghy for
an hour on a Coleman canister,” Bill
says. With a larger, composite LPG
tank, the Marine Green system can
power a 25hp motor—plenty of
muscle to move the average tender.
Stay tuned to PMM and
www.marinegreen.com for the
latest. We look forward to the day
when cruisers can simply hook up
their LPG tank, start their Marine
Green engine, and motor off into
the sunset.—S.R.B.
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A NEW JOINT VENTURE BRINGS
HYDROGEN POWER CLOSER
Stopping at the Independence
Green Yachts booth at the Miami
International Boat Show, I learned
about a pending joint venture
between IGY and HB Marine, patent
holders of a technology to produce,
store, and use hydrogen aboard boats.
IGY is the developer of the
Independence 60, the first totally self-sufficient, solar/hydrogen-powered
aluminum cruiser that requires no
fossil fuels or internal combustion
engines. “Building a sustainable boat
that can cruise cleanly, quietly, and
without ever having to use fossil fuels
has been my dream since the Navy,”
said IGY President Fred Berry.
“We have been looking for the
right partner to bring our hydrogen-based technology to market,” added
HB Marine Managing Director
Bruce Wood. In addition to the
Independence 60, IGY and HB
Marine plan to bring cruisers clean-energy propulsion systems that can
be retrofitted to existing yachts.
To learn more, log on to
www.independencegreenyachts.com
and www.hbmarine.com.—J.W.
CHEOY LEE’S LATEST:
THE SERENITY 59
For those who like the idea of a
luxurious cruiser with the advantages
of a full-displacement hull but are
looking for something smaller than
a 68-footer, Cheoy Lee offers the
Serenity 59.
A three-stateroom yacht, the
59 follows the 68 and the 83 in
the Serenity model line. Like her
sisterships, the 59 reflects Cheoy
Lee’s commitment to building a
lighter, more fuel efficient yacht that
incorporates advanced composites
while providing true seaworthiness.
The Serenity 59 features a solid,
handlaid fiberglass hull with double-bottom tanks and resin-infused
decks, bulkheads, and superstructure.
The boat was designed by Mike
Burvenich and carries Germanischer
Lloyd-class certification.
